


pumpkin patches and broken promises

by spideynamu



Series: irondad bingo: halloween edition [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Kid Peter Parker, Light Angst, Not Canon Compliant, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Precious Peter Parker, well kinda peter's just tony's kid since yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-24 19:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20912837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideynamu/pseuds/spideynamu
Summary: Tony knew that he had meetings to attend later, but he also knew that he was weak and he couldn't say no to Peter, so pumpkin carving it was.(bingo prompt: pumpkin carving)





	pumpkin patches and broken promises

**Author's Note:**

> it was going so well and then i had to make it sad. whOopsie.

Tony couldn’t stop himself from ruffling Peter’s hair that morning, his little boy was _growing up_.

He still remembered when Peter was learning how to walk like it was yesterday, his giggles lighting up the room and his baby eyes shining brighter than all the stars in the universe.

If anything, Peter was his universe, the one person he’d be willing to sacrifice everything for— he was the one person he was willing to live for.

Growing up as the heir to Stark Industries and Howard Stark’s son, Tony was immune to surprises, always being in the spotlight regardless of where he was, nothing surprised him anymore.

But nothing had been able to prepare him for Peter Stark.

Maybe it was the universe’s way of telling Tony to get his shit together, that life was more than drinking bottle after bottle and waking up to another face in the morning—that life was more than overworking himself into exhaustion every other night.

Meeting Mary Fitzpatrick, if only for a brief night of tangled limbs and drunken kisses, was probably not one of Tony’s smartest decisions.

But Tony couldn’t bring himself to regret that night, because then he would never have met Peter, and what would he do without his saving grace?

When Mary had shown up nine months later, fierce and unstoppable, she told him three things: this was _his_ son Peter, that she couldn’t raise a child in her line of work and she’d rather him be raised by his father.

Tony had laughed at the idea, him care for a child?

But then he had taken one glance at Peter, all bundled up in a soft blue blanket, brown eyes wide open as he listened to the sound of his parents’ fervent whispering.

Identical shades of brown met each other and Tony already knew that Peter had stolen his heart.

“Daddy? Daddy!”

Tony ignored the way his vision was a bit misty and turned his attention back towards his son, who was all smiles as he looked up at him.

“Yeah, tesero?” he asked, laughing when Peter looked up at him, eyebrow raised in way that clearly screamed Stark.

“Come on, we’re gonna be late for the field trip!” Peter exclaimed, already clutching onto his hand, trying to drag him towards the car.

Tony obliged and followed Peter towards the car, his excitement obvious as he told Tony all about his plan to search for _the most amazingest, coolest pumpkin ever at the pumpkin patch, daddy!_

It was only when Peter was safely strapped to his booster seat and Happy was driving in the front seat that the boy had quieted down, choosing to lean against his dad’s side.

Moments like these made Tony think about how lucky he was to have Peter, how his life had seemed to turn around and everything finally made sense for once.

To the world and the media he was Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, Howard Stark’s son, and more often enough, the Merchant of Death, the man designing the weapons used to help the military.

But to Peter he was just his dad, his dad who read him bedtime stories and tucked him in every night. His dad who made him pancakes every Sunday and sometimes sung to him in Italian when it was hard to fall asleep.

“Can we carve pumpkins when we get home?” Peter suddenly piped up, his usual energy returning.

Tony knew that he already had several scheduled meetings he needed to attend when he got home, and he could already hear Obie berating him and could easily picture Pepper’s disapproving stare.

But how was he supposed to say no to Peter of all people?

Ignoring the curious stares of the other parents at the pumpkin patch, Tony kept suggesting different pumpkins to Peter who shook his head each time because it apparently wasn’t the perfect pumpkin.

Peter had stopped dead in his tracks, eyes latching onto a pumpkin a couple feet away from him, and _bingo there’s the perfect pumpkin_.

It was about medium in size, a bright orange color and Peter was absolutely in love.

“That one, Daddy!” he pointed and Tony followed Peter as he scrambled towards the pumpkin.

Sure, maybe it was just a pumpkin, but the mirth in Peter’s eyes when he saw it did something to Tony’s heart and he silently thanked a _pumpkin_.  
__

“Mr. Stark, you’ve missed three meetings already, I’ve had—what in the _world?”_

There were several pumpkin carving items scattered on top of the table and the poor table was splattered with pumpkin guts, the two Starks didn’t look any better.

Peter and Tony looked up at her like two deer caught in the headlights and she would’ve been amused if it weren’t the fact there were angry businessmen emailing their complaints each minute that passed.

“Oh, hey Pepper,” Tony greeted casually as if he wasn’t covered in orange.

“Hi, Ms. Potts!” Peter chirped, small pieces of pumpkin decorating his curly hair.

Tony looked back down at Peter, eyes immediately softening and Pepper couldn’t find it in herself to make Tony attend the next meeting, the sight was _endearing_.

“All your meetings have been cancelled for today and tomorrow, Mr. Stark,” she informed before looking at Peter, “how was your day, sweetheart?”

It was cheesy to say that Peter had lit up like the stars when he started talking about his day, but Pepper couldn’t find any other way to describe the happiness on Peter’s face.

“So much fun! Daddy said we could carve pumpkins,” he gestured towards the mess on the table, before he looked at Pepper again, “please don’t be mad, I asked Daddy if we could.”

And now there was no way Pepper could be mad now, not when Peter was looking at her with his trademarked Bambi eyes.

“It’s alright, honey, Tony’s not in trouble.”

He nodded carefully, eyebrows furrowed before expectantly holding out his pinky.

“Promise?” he asked, oblivious to his father’s amused grin behind him.

“Promise.” she confirmed, locking pinkies with Peter.

It was only when Pepper was looking at a picture of a beaming Tony and Peter on that day a couple months later, did she feel like she had broken her promise to Peter.

A silent tear ran down her cheek as she examined the picture carefully, tracing every detail with blue eyes.

Tony Stark was lost somewhere in Afghanistan and he was definitely in trouble.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are highly appreciated!
> 
> reviews and criticism are appreciated as well.
> 
> thank you so much for reading <3000


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